I Wish I'd told you sooner
by Sciencefictionsquirrel
Summary: Cindy has been a single parent raising hers and Jimmy's kid for twelve years after Jimmy left Retroville without saying goodbye. This story picks up then. Warning: It all takes place within the time period of a few minutes. ON HIATUS


I Wish I'd Told You Sooner

Summary: twelve years ago, Jimmy and Cindy were the only survivors of a bus wreck that occured on the way to a museum on a field trip, besides Carl, Sheen, and Libby, who had been hospitalized near-permanently. Devastated by the deaths of Nick, Betty Quinlan, and the others, Jimmy and Cindy, 17 years old at the time, sought comfort in each other. About a week later, after turning 18, Jimmy left Retroville without leaving any way to contact him. A few weeks later, Cindy discovered that she was pregnant with Jimmy's kid. Twelve years later, seven years after Carl, Sheen, and Libby had been released from the hospital because they were doing a lot better, Jimmy's back in Retroville, but he doesn't know about his son, Nicholas D. Neutron. This story deals with him finding out about Nicholas, and Cindy discovering the reason Jimmy left.

A/N: I am going to see if a oneshot works first, then I am going to consider adding more chapters.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!!!! Except for Nicholas, his classmates, and Ms. Fowl's replacement, as well as any inventions that Nicholas, Cindy, or Jimmy make. Oh, and I also own Enrico, the robotic dog that Cindy created.

Cindy drove up to Lindbergh Elementary to pick up her son, Nicholas Neutron. She refused to put him on a bus because of the accident twelve years ago that had killed Nicholas' namesake, Nick Dean. She only wished that Jimmy could see his son. But, nooo, Jimmy had run off just a week after the accident, taking his lab with him. However, he'd left blueprints for building a second Goddard, as well as the equipment to do so. She hadn't heard from him since. Hearing the bell ring, she looked at the backseat and said, "Enrico, do you see Nicholas?"

Enrico barked, and then his monitor popped up, saying, "He's headed here right now."

Cindy looked back at the school, and, sure enough, Nicholas was heading for the car. He was almost a mirror image of Jimmy, same disproportionate head as when Jimmy was that age, same blue eyes, same T-shirt, same weird hairstyle. The only difference was that his hair was mostly blonde, with a brownish tint. He opened the passenger-side front door, then slid in. "Mom, do you think you could use your position as head scientist at the Retroville Laboratory to get me access to the cyclotron? I'm experimenting with the mutation of carefully cultivated, genetically engineered mushroom spores when exposed to gamma radiation." he asked. Cindy sighed. Sometimes he was so much like Jimmy.

"Nicholas, you know that you have to have a doctorate in a scientific field to get into the lab. Besides, I've got an interview with a potential replacement for Doctor Endelson, who you convinced to stand in the way of the beam when you activated an experimental Neutrino microscope that you designed, resulting in the laws of probability being altered so that only bad things happened to him, resulting in his demise at the hands of that electric can opener." Cindy said.

"Mom, he only had to get the extra fifty pounds of fat removed along with the gear that got lodged in his extremely ample stomach." Nicholas said, then added, "Besides, I actually got pictures of even smaller particles: Vortrons, as I'm calling them, in honor of your last name, mom."

"That is so sweet." Cindy said, then reached under the seat for a bag of fuses. She flipped open a panel on the dashboard, then began to rearrange the fuses there, putting new ones in and pulling some out, then she closed it and said, "Well, let's see how well this setup works for breaking the time barrier. Maybe we can get to the science convention on quantum physics before it starts."

"Okay. Well, can I use the cyclotron? I've got everything else ready, but I don't have the gamma radiation." Nicholas asked.

"Build your own. Let's get going." Cindy said, then hit the gas. They shot out of the parking lot at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour, reaching the Retroville Science Symposium less than five minutes later. They got out of the car, then headed inside. They sat down in the seats that they had reserved earlier that month, when the convention was being planned, and Cindy started looking around to see who else was there. She saw someone off to the side of the stage, apparently practicing his lecture. Cindy had been practicing hers all day with Enrico. The person turned around, and Cindy's hands clenched into fists. She so wanted to kill the person who she saw. It was Jimmy Neutron, the same bastard who had left Retroville twelve years ago without saying goodbye. She resolved to talk to him after he'd finished his lecture. However, she revised that plan when he walked towards them. Cindy looked at the names on the seats to either side of her and Nicholas, and, sure enough, one of them was reserved for Jimmy Neutron. Specifically, the one right next to her.

Jimmy sat down next to a woman who looked to be about his age, with blonde hair, green eyes, and a kid sitting next to her. It was the kid that got his attention. The boy looked so much like Jimmy had when he was younger. He then looked at the woman, and suddenly he realized who he had been unfortunate enough to sit next to: Cynthia "Cindy" Vortex, his childhood rival and secret crush, and later his high-school girlfriend. He decided to try and start a conversation. Knowing that calling her miss Vortex would help him maintain his anonymity, because she was wearing a name tag, he said, "Umm, excuse me, Miss Vortex, but might I ask if you built that robotic dog yourself? You see, I built one very similar to it when I was younger. Goddard, my robot dog, is getting older, but he's still working just fine."

Cindy was startled to hear Jimmy ask her if she'd built Enrico. She tried to think of a reply that would be civil, but also permit her to try and preserve her anonymity. She settled on saying, "Yes, I did. A friend of mine left the blueprints and materials to build him when he left." She tried to avoid looking at Jimmy, but her eyes kept drifting towards his face. He hadn't changed a bit.

"So, would you like to come over to my house after this?"Jimmy asked.

"So, you live here?"

"Yeah. I moved back here a week ago. I'm applying for a job at the Retroville Laboratory."

"Well, it's yours. I'm the head scientist."

"You are?"

"Yes."

"So, would you like to come over to my house? Your son can come, too."

"Sure, I'd love to." The words were out of her mouth before she could think about it." Cindy couldn't handle it anymore. "Nicholas, go out to the car. I left my quantum generator in the trunk. Could you get it?" As soon as Nicholas had left, Cindy exploded "Jimmy Neutron, what the fuck were you thinking when you left Retroville without even saying goodbye?!" She tried to stop there, but the words kept spilling out of her mouth, as though a dam had burst. "Your son has spent the last twelve years without a father because you didn't want to stick around! Do you know how many times he's asked about you, but my grief over you leaving without saying goodbye has kept me from saying anything?! Do you know how hard your leaving was on me?!"

"Cindy, listen to me! I left because I needed to get away for a while. My parents knew where I'd gone and how to contact me, but I needed to get away from everything, including you. I couldn't stand staying there because I was afraid that I'd lose control of my feelings. When they revealed that you were pregnant, I wanted to come back, but I felt I couldn't, not until I'd gotten enough money so that we could move out to the country, buy a lot of land, build a large house, and keep my parents' house so that we could set up a teleporter system so that, if you had kept the kid, Nicholas could attend school. I was thinking of what was best for us as a family." Jimmy said.

"You were thinking of what was best for us?" Cindy asked.

"Yes, although I wasn't completely expecting you to have kept Nicholas. I thought that you would get an abortion so that you could attend college without hindrance."

"I wouldn't do that."

"So, do you still want to come over to my house? I've improved the hovercar."

"Jimmy, it's still on. The truth is, I love you. I wish I'd told you sooner."

"I love you too, Cindy." Jimmy said, moving in to kiss Cindy. When their lips met, it was as though thousands of fireworks were going off.


End file.
